Finding all but Nemo

The job I got is partly to replace a man who has been working there for 50 years and is about to retire. So far, I have been following him around and learning all I can from him. He is a very positive and happy person, and it's been easy and quite fun to spend time with him. One of the first things he told me was that he was "forced" to clean his office, so that now I could also seat there. When he told me that I looked around and wondered how it had been before. I heard the difference is dramatic and I'm guessing he spent a lot of energy on it. I don't know if he finished it or not, because there are some shelves full of stuff that I think he didn't go through. Sometimes, when he is not there (he only works part time) I go through them and I have found very curious things...

O meu trabalho passa em parte por substituir um homem que trabalhou ali durante 50 anos e que está prestes a reformar-se. Até agora tenho estado a segui-lo de perto e a aprender o máximo com ele. Ele é uma pessoa muito positiva e feliz, e tem sido fácil e bastante divertido passar tempo com ele. Uma das primeiras coisas que ele me disse foi que foi "forçado" a limpar o seu gabinete, para eu me poder sentar lá também. Quando me disse isso, olhei em volta e perguntei-me como estaria antes. Ouvi dizer que a diferença é gritante e suponho que ele gastou muita energia nisso. Não sei se ele deu a limpeza por terminada ou não, porque há algumas prateleiras cheias de tralhas onde me parece que ele não passou. Às vezes, quando ele lá não está (só trabalha em part time) dou uma vista de olhos e tento arrumar um pouco, e tenho encontrado coisas muito curiosas...

Christmas lights / Luzes de natal

The flag of an ice hockey club / A bandeira de um clube de hoquéi no gelo

Tea expired in 2014 (I've only seen him drinking coffee), wipes for stationary phones (that no one uses anymore) expired in 2012, and an unopened cartridge bought in 2013. 

Chá com o prazo de validade em 2014 (ainda só o vi a beber café), panos molhados para limpar telefones (que já ninguém usa do departamento) com validade em 2012, e um cartucho fechado comprado em 2013. 

A table tennis racket / Uma raquete de ténis de mesa

A pair of glasses and a plunger

As I said before, the only thing I haven't found there yet was Nemo! 

It's been quite fun and I will miss these times, when he leaves at the end of the month. He is some kind of a legend and everybody likes him a lot. I have big shoes to fill! But I will try to keep weird objects away from the shelves. We will see how it goes when I'm his age. I'll probably be even worse...

Como disse, a única coisa que ainda não encontrei lá foi o Nemo! 

Tem sido muito divertido e vou sentir falta destes tempos, quando ele for embora no final do mês. Ele é uma espécie de lenda e todo a gente gosta imenso dele. Vou tentar ser tão positiva quanto ele, mas vou tentar manter objectos estranhos longe das prateleiras. Vamos ver como vai ser quando tiver a idade dele. Vou provavelmente ser ainda pior...

You got to love Sweden...

... but not always.

If you ask any Swede about bureaucracy they will tell you that it is terrible in Sweden. It's not. Everything works reasonably well and that's noticeable if you compare it with most other countries. However, bureaucracy is still bureaucracy. Mistakes can happen leading to funny/weird/stupid situations. Even in Sweden. Like this one.

Johan, who is Swedish, went to the dentist. A week later he got a letter from the social health care (or whatever försäkringskassan is called in English), in which was required that he presented proof from the migration office that he is allowed to live in Sweden. 

Our best guess is that they couldn't find him in the system, although he never had problems when he went to other doctors, assuming immediately that he was a foreigner due to one of his names being German.

He laughed and cried at the situation! What? I am Swedish! Where will you deport me to if I don't show this document? To Sweden?

Perfection doesn't exist after all...

The Sara way #3

Or how 10 kilometres turn into 15...

More than a year after I moved to Prague I got lost while running in my own neighbourhood. It was raining cats and dogs and I couldn't see the way. That was my excuse that day.

Yesterday, also more than a year after I moved here I got lost when I was running. Me getting lost is almost becoming a tradition. 

Last weekend we cycled to a neighbourhood, full of small attached houses that look alike, around where I run sometimes. This time we took a right on the main street and went up to the forest. Yesterday I planned to go there to the entrance and back, so it would be quite exactly 10 km. When I was there I didn't feel like running up the hill so I decided to just continue in the main street, because it's flat. The same street where I have ran some other times. Then I remembered that last time, after seeing the map online, I saw that I didn't have to turn around, but I could turn left twice, go around and go back to the main street. Simple enough, I thought. And it was. I ended up exactly where I thought I would be. 

So what was the problem? The problem was that I didn't bloody recognised it! There are some open fields in the beginning of that neighbourhood and somehow coming from a different perspective made it so it looked completely different, at least in my head! When I came to the main road, that for me was just a road then, I had to turn left or right. Had I turn right, I would have seen familiar buildings after 50 m, but my brilliant instinct told me to turn left. Of course. I should have still recognised it because I have ran there before, but all the houses look the same and I didn't see it.

So I happily ran in the wrong direction not understanding where I was. I tried to go up a small road, because I thought I recognised the name, but it felt like a dead end so I returned and continued on the bigger street. It was only when I saw signs for the next city that I understood that something was really really wrong. 

I went back again, took that smaller road again and decided to go to the end and check if it really was a dead end. At a crossing I stopped and decided to ask someone. And then even before I had time to find someone to ask, it hit me! I was on the road up to the forest! I recognised it then! But... but... but... that meant that the road I have been running up and down is the one I was looking for!!! No... it's too stupid... Did I really do this?

Yes I did. 

After a few minutes I was back in the fields and I finally saw it. Suddenly, all the unfamiliar buildings became familiar and I couldn't help but laugh at myself. Relieved, I ran back making it home with 5 extra kilometres in the bag. 

Then I heard Johan's voice. He is abroad in a conference and one of the things he told me when he left was: Sara, try to not get lost when you run this time. Oh well...

Random 'facts' about Sweden by Colin Moon

I saw a list of 15 random 'facts' about things Swedish on LinkedIn and after having a good laugh I decided to share some here. 

• Food There is much variety. Mustard, for example, sweet or strong or both, comes in jars, tubes or squeezable bottles.
• English Swedes are excellent at English. A manager at a global company wanted to say a few welcoming words to a group of international visitors. 'You are almost welcome to Sweden', he said. 
• Religion Most Swedes, thank God, are not that religious. Anyway, if Christ came down to Scandinavia he'd have to change planes in Copenhagen.
• Decision-makers Saying yes or no can lead to conflict, so Swedes have invented a cross between the two - 'Nja'. This means yes-but-no-but-yes-but-no-but-yes...maybe...not sure.
• Common sense When God gave out common sense then Swedes were at the front of the line, waving their queue ticket, which by the way was invented by a Swede, Bengt-Åke Nummerlapp.
• Neighbours Norway is a strange place outside the EU, very rich and therefore less of a joke these days. The Danes drink beer in the street so they are considered continental and the Finns think the Swedes are talkative, sophisticated socialites.
• Eating out In other countries people fight to get the bill. In Sweden, however, people divide it up. Lena should pay less because she didn't have a starter and Ola should pay more because he drank like a fish.
• Swedish history Gustav Wasa. He invented crispbread. *(Joke between Vasa, the king, and Wasa, the brand)
• Swedish seasons The Swedish summer is the warmest day of the year.
• Punctuality In many parts of the world meetings start when they start and not before. In Sweden, meetings start on time and finish with 'any other questions'...but don't you dare!

Original text by Colin Moon.

Ghost Zé is back

Since university that I have Zé, the ghost, as my companion. It all started with a door that opened and closed alone in my rented room. I didn't believe in ghosts (I still don't), but just in case I decided to be friendly, naming and talking with Zé sometimes. Since then, every time something strange happens I simply say out loud "Zé, stop it!". In Brazil and in Poland he was quite active, turning off lights and opening wardrobe doors, while in Prague he was more quiet. The fact that Zé's activities increase with the age of the flats I have lived in is irrelevant for this post. I hadn't seen Zé for a while and I had actually forgotten about him until last week.  

1. Two girls in my class started talking about ghosts. One was a believer and had crazy stories of sights and strange sounds. That reminded me of Zé. I also got to learn related vocabulary in Swedish. Always useful.

2. The day after, me and Johan were at home using our laptop, when out of nothing it started to emit a really loud sound like a fire alarm. Yes, the laptop. I had no idea computers could make that sound!! Specially that loud, when the sound in that computer is actually crap and we can never hear anything in it even when it's set to maximum. We had to put it under a pillow, so the neighbours wouldn't panic, while trying to turn it off. Yes, I'm talking about a computer.

3. The day after that, I could swear I had boiled water. However, I found myself in the kitchen trying to make tea by pouring cold water from the kettle. 

I'm quite sure Zé is back. It's ok, we have missed him. 

Welcome to Sweden Zé!

Scottish/Irish humour

For those who are not even a little bit interested in running and are now wondering why the hell are they following this blog, here is a sneak peak of my latest trip to the islands. More (and better) will come, but I have over 1500 photos to take care of first. I love funny signs so I put together a small collection for you. 

Mauds, ice cream shop

This one is not funny, just very very polite.

Who wouldn't want to shop at something fishy? Fresh fish everyday!